Ignacio Ambriz, in the Alcoraz, Huesca stadium.JAVIER BLASCO / EFE
Ignacio Ambriz (Mexico City, 56 years old) was not interested in stagnating in football in his country.
He had already been a champion as a player and also as a coach.
The dream placed with a thumbtack was fixed in Spain.
And the moment of truth came when a team recently relegated to the Second Division offered him a contract.
Ambriz gave up his luxuries to take Huesca by storm.
Javier Aguirre paved the way for Mexican coaches to have a chance in Europe.
El Vasco made a name for himself at Osasuna (2002-06).
To his coaching staff he added a recently retired Nacho Ambriz, who also accompanied him when he directed Atlético de Madrid (2006-09).
Ambriz wanted to be in charge, to be the
coach
, but he wasn't ready yet.
“I don't need to shut up anyone.
It was a challenge that I wanted to meet after 12 years of being in Mexico.
It did not matter to leave everything.
It seems that many people criticize that he has come to a Second Division, but not me.
I'm happy.
Life is risky and my life has always been risky, ”Ambriz said this Wednesday in a meeting with journalists.
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As a footballer, Ambriz was an idol at Necaxa where he won two leagues and was captain of the Mexico national team in the nineties.
His spiky hair and tenacity to protect the ball made him an idol.
He grew up in the neighborhoods of Culhuacán, grabbed the bellows to endure the harshness of professional football, but at the peak of his career he faced alcoholism.
It took him a while to recognize it and get over it.
“Normally when you come from a neighborhood it costs you because there is a lot of alcoholism and drug addiction.
It is something curious: because all that did not happen to me in the neighborhood, but as a player, "he told Univisión in 2018. He took refuge in football to give up alcohol.
After accompanying Aguirre in Spain, he tried his luck in mid-table teams such as Puebla and San Luis. In 2012 he had the opportunity to direct the Chivas de Guadalajara, one of the most popular in the country, but he could only be in office for six months. Three years later, and with more filming, he took over America. Arriving at the most mediatic club meant an avalanche of criticism. The sparse but effective style of play did not excite the fans. He asked his children not to check their social networks. Despite that, he won the Concacaf Champions League and also the ticket to play the 2016 Club World Cup. The azulcrema team fired him before he could face Real Madrid. Ambriz settled in Necaxa where he won the Cup tournament.For three years he managed León (2018-21) where he polished the club so much that it became one of the most regular. It was football in its purest form with possession of the ball and an efficiency for the goal. In 2019 they lost the League, but at the end of 2020 they took revenge and won it. It was the first title for Ambriz.
Ambriz's record was enough to find work in the Mexican environment, enough for a safe place. The strategist did not renew with León because he had received a proposal to raise a Huesca that lost its place in the First Division. "It is difficult for me to think that I sacrifice when I dedicate myself to what I like and get paid," said Ambriz. “The experience I acquired as Javier's second was quite a lot. It helped me create a training methodology. My legs don't shake, ”he added.
Ambriz's arrival at Huesca was driven by the recommendation of Míchel, a former Real Madrid player who led the Pumas in Mexico;
Argentine coach Pablo Guede and Ángel Martín González, Osasuna's sports director when Aguirre was the coach.
"[In Spain] they don't see our football, they know little about us," he lamented.
Ambriz's adventure wants to have a long chapter in Spain.
From Iztapalapa to Alcoraz.
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